RETURN TO PARADISE

MARK MANCINA

Rating:

Original Review: It is always a turning point for a composer when they are asked to score their first "worthy" film. Mark Mancina's filmography so far has been littered with popcorn-munching action flicks (Speed, Twister, Bad Boys, Con Air) and silly children's films (Monkey Trouble, Man of the House), although he did go some way towards creating a new serious image for himself with the excellent but under-valued Moll Flanders. Return to Paradise has seen him come of age. Joseph Ruben's traumatic but life-affirming film, starring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn, inspired Mancina to compose the most beautiful and lyrical music of his career to date, a score teeming with rich melodies, mysterious moody string passages and one soaring, utterly spellbinding main theme.

Unlike on Moll Flanders, where Mancina had to rely on his dexterity with a synthesiser, Mancina was given a full orchestral accompaniment to work with here, and the extra money and trust invested in his work is immediately apparent. Mixed in with the conventional orchestra, Mancina uses various exotic instruments with various exotic names such as bonsuri, suling, tarka, duduk and by-chee, and their performances by Fred Selden give the score a timeless appeal and definite sense of its far-flung location. A choir enters the proceedings during selected emotional high spots ('The Appeal') and, somewhat surprisingly, Mancina uses faint strains of his favoured electric guitar in some cues ('6 Years in Prison' and 'Second Call', for example). Even more surprisingly, its usage works exceptionally well, and gives the cues in which it appears a certain gritty, uncompromising edge.

The first track, 'Looking At You', is arguably the best, presenting the first full rendition of the beautiful main melody, but Return to Paradise is much more than a monothematic score. Many other cues are immediately noticeable, not only for their depth and beauty, but also for the sense of passion, longing and sadness that pervades through the whole album. 'Return to Paradise', the third cue, presents a series of delightful woodwind performances of the main theme, parts of which are similar in sound to Hans Zimmer's majestic Beyond Rangoon. 'Desperate Lovers' and 'I'll Miss You' are tender and smooth, and have a fine piano rendition of the main theme which balances nicely with the more lush offerings heard elsewhere. Mancina's action roots do not desert him entirely in this score, and a number of cues ('Bike Ride', 'Flesh and Blood', 'The Hanging') contain the exciting, powerful, synthesiser-driven music to which we have been accustomed over the last few years. The finale, 'Epilogue', recapitulates all the film's magical main themes into one spellbinding cue (probably the end titles) and makes sure that the score finishes on the highest possible note.

I get great satisfaction from seeing Mark Mancina finally emerge from the musical rut he seemed to be in, and blossom into a mature and confident composer. If Return to Paradise is a taste of things to come, I have a feeling that he will become one of the major players in Hollywood composing circles very shortly.

Track Listing: Running Time: 43 minutes 24 seconds

Varèse Sarabande VSD-5964 (1998)

Music composed and conducted by Mark Mancina. Orchestrations by Mark Mancina and David Metzger. Featured musical soloists Ron Applegate, Jon Clarke and Fred Selden. Recorded and mixed by Christopher Ward and Mark Mancina. Edited by Tom Drescher. Album produced by Mark Mancina.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.